We left Barn Hill early and headed for Broome to pick up a particular type of fuse which we wouldn’t find in Derby. A quick stopover at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse for breakfast and what a surprise, you have to check out the tavern it’s awesome!
We arrived in Derby and checked into the Kimberley Entrance caravan park. $48 per night which we found to be pretty rich for just a toilet and shower block. The following day we did a quick stock up at the local Woolworths which had barely any stock. Note to all *do not do your final shop in Derby complete it in Broome or Kununurra, more stock and less expensive * I won’t make that mistake again! We had to make sure we had enough to last us 3 or so weeks. We had plenty of meat so I didn’t have to worry about that however we had to make sure we had enough fresh produce.
In the morning it was time for Lyndon to be an auto sparky and get this job done. Check out of the park was by 10am. Slightly under pressure and not 100% confident in the job that needs to be done the ‘she’ll be right’ attitude got lyndon through. The two lithium’s are connected in parallel from factory. The closest battery is connected directly to the Projecta system. Then the 2nd lithium is connected to the first battery. This is ok but you won’t have the same voltage between both of them. All I did was disconnect the closest positive terminal and reconnected it to the farthest positive terminal. I also connected the inverter the same way, doing this ensures the voltage is always even across both batteries. This ensures better battery life and the inverter can take on more.This is the correct way to treat two batteries as one large battery. If treated as individuals and one dies you can’t replace one battery, you have to replace both. So getting the most life out of both batteries is far more cost effective. With success we were onto start the Gibb River Road.
We spent our first night at Birdwood downs station which we were expecting more from, its a large cattle station however the allocated camping area was tiny. It was a struggle to get our van in. There’s nothing to do here apart from birdwatch and catch up on loads of washing. There were 2 things we forgot to buy in derby 1 was beer for Lyndon and 2 marshmallows, poor Lowana hasn’t had any campfire marshmallows yet😳. So once the bottle shop opened it was a quick trip back into Derby to collect those essentials.
We then headed for Leonard River camp near the turn off to Windjana. It’s a gorgeous free spot perched right up on the banks of the Leonard river. We spent the afternoon swimming in the river and waving to all the travellers as they drove across the river bed. The water was so clear that some fellow campers were using it for drinking water. We met another family whilst relaxing in the river and exchanged stories and notes of where we have each been. Next stop was Bells Gorge!
dlsroaming.com 